The
famous battle of Bannockburn, 24th June 1314, was fought for
the relief of Stirling Castle, which was besieged by the Scottish
forces under Robert the Bruce. The English governor of Stirling
had promised that, if he were not relieved by that date, he
would surrender the castle, and Edward II. hastily collected
an army in the northern and midland counties of England.

Robert
the Bruce made no attempt to defend the border, and selected
his defensive position on the Bannock Burn, 2 1/2 miles South
of Stirling. His front was covered by the marshy bed of the
stream, his left flank by its northerly bend towards the Forth,
his right by a group of woods, behind which, until the English
army appeared, the Scots concealed themselves. Two corps were
left in the open in observation, one at St Ninians to watch
the lower course of the burn, one to guard the point at which
the Falkirk-Stirling road crosses the burn.

On
the 23rd the van of the army of Edward, which numbered about
60,000 against the 40,000 of the Scots, appeared to the south
of the burn. and at once despatched two bodies of men towards
Stirling, the first by the direct road, the other over the lower
Bannock Burn near its junction with the Forth. The forner was
met by the Scottish outpost on the road, and here occurred the
famous single combat in which Robert the Bruce, though not fully
armed for battle, killed Sir Henry Bohun. The English corps
which took the other route was met and after a severe struggle
defeated by the second Scottish outpost near St Ninians.

The
English army assembled for battle on the following day. Early
on St Johns day the Scottish army took up its assigned positions.
Three corps of pikemen in solid masses formed the first line,
which was kept out of sght behind the crest until the enemy
advanced in earnest. A line of pottes (military pits) had been
previously dug to give additional protection to the front, which
extended for about one mile from wing to wing. The reserve under
Bruce consisted of a corps of pikemen and a squadron of 500
chosen men-at-arms under Sir Robert Keith, the marischal of
Scotland.

The
line of the defenders was unusually dense; Edward, in forming
up on an equal front with greatly superior numbers, found his
army almost hopelessly cramped. The attacking army was formed
in an unw-ieldy mass of ten. battles, each consisting of horse
and foot, and the whole formed in three lines each of three
battles, with the tenth battle as a reserve in rear. In this
order the English moved down into the valley for a direct attack,
the cavalry of each battle in first line, the foot in second.
Ignoring the lesson of Falkirk (q.v.), the mounted men rode
through the morass and up the slope, which was now crowned by
the three great masses of the Scottish pikemen.

The
attack of the Eng]ish failed to make any gap in the line of
defence, many knights and men-atarms were injured by falling
into the pits, and the battle became a milie, the Scots, with
better fortune than at Falkirk and Flodden, presenting always
an impenetrable hedge of spears, the English, too stubborn to
draw off, constantly trying in vain to break it down. So great
was the press that the battles of the second line which followed
the first were unable to reach the front and stood on the slope,
powerless to take part in the battle on the crest. The advance
of the third English line only made matters worse, and the sole
attempt to deploy the archers was crushed with great slaughter
by the charge of Keiths mounted men.

Robert
the Bruce threw his infantry reserve into the battle, the arrows
of the English archers wounded the men-at-arms of their own
side, and the remnants of the leading line were tired and disheartened
when the final impetus to their rout was given by the historic
charge of the gillies, some thousands of Scottish campfollowers
who suddenly emerged from the woods, blowing horns, waving such
weapons as they possessed, and holding aloft improvised banners.
Their cries of slay, slayl seemed to the wearied English to
betoken. the advance of a great reserve, and in a few minutes
the whole English army broke and fled in disorder down the slope.
Many perished in the burn, and the demoralized fugitives were
hunted by the peasantry until they re-crossed the English border.
One earl, forty-two barons and bannerets, two hundred knights,
seven hundred esquires and probably 10,000 foot were killed
in the battle and the pursuit. One earl, twenty-two barons and
bannerets and sixty-eight knights fell into the hands of the
victors, whose total loss of 4000 men included, it is said,
only two knights.